Plasma Powder Sterilization Apparatus and Methods

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for plasma sterilization are described. The sterilization method includes placing a substance to be sterilized in a rotating chamber (e.g., drum) and exposing the substance to a radio frequency (RF) plasma. The mixing of the substance and plasma is further promoted by generating a magnetic field that produces a force on the substance in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the chamber. In other aspects, the chamber may have a gas permeable wall. In addition, the substance may be exposed to acoustic shock waves produced by a modulating RF generator.

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationNo. 61/718,493 filed on Oct. 25, 2012, U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 61/569,485 filed on Dec. 12, 2011, and U.S. provisionalpatent application No. 61/569,449 filed on Dec. 12, 2011. This and allother referenced extrinsic materials are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in areference that is incorporated by reference is inconsistent or contraryto the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of thatterm provided herein is deemed to be controlling.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention is plasma sterilization.

BACKGROUND

The following description includes information that may be useful inunderstanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any ofthe information provided herein is prior art or relevant to thepresently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically orimplicitly referenced is prior art.

While numerous sterilization processes and devices are known, most arenot well suited for sterilizing food powder and other food-basedmaterials. This is due, in part, to the fact that food material issensitive and easily damaged (e.g., its composition can be easilychanged).

For example, while the medical industry frequently utilizes highpressure and/or high temperature vessels (e.g., autoclaves) to sterilizemedical instruments, sterilizing food material in this manner wouldsubstantially alter the composition of the food material.

Other industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, utilizeradiation-based sterilization rather than high pressure/temperaturesterilization processes to avoid damaging or altering highly sensitivepharmaceutical formulations. Unfortunately, radiation-basedsterilization processes may also damage food material.

Other industries use shock wave sterilization processes to sterilizematter without producing excessive heat. See, for example,PCT/US2010/049248 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,357. Unfortunately, high shockpressures can also degrade food material.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,882 (Jacobs) describes a sterilization process inwhich objects are contacted with hydrogen peroxide, and trace amounts ofresidual hydrogen peroxide are subjected to plasma treatment to generatean active species. The active species are effective to kill microbes.Any residual hydrogen peroxide simply converts into non-toxicdecomposition products. This sterilization process may be used with foodmaterial.

While the plasma sterilization process described in Jacobs can be usedto sterilize food materials, the systems and devices described in Jacobsare intended for batch processing, and are therefore not well suited tosterilizing large volumes of food material.

Thus, there is still a need for improvements in plasma sterilizationdevices and methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems and methods inwhich a substance to be sterilized is placed in a rotating chamber(e.g., drum) and irradiated with a radio frequency (RF) plasma. Mixingof the substance and the plasma is further promoted by generating amagnetic field that produces a force on the substance in a directionopposite to the rotational direction of the chamber.

In one aspect of some embodiments, the magnetic field is produced by aDC power supply and a magnetic system. The DC power supply could beconfigured to provide both the radial plasma current and the magneticfield. In other aspects of some embodiments, the magnetic field may beaxially aligned with the chamber. In yet other aspects, an inductionplasma may be used to pre-ionize the plasma.

Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventivesubject matter will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanyingdrawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a drawing of one embodiment of a sterilization system.

FIG. 2 is a drawing of the sterilization system of FIG. 1, disposed in amagnetic field.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of another embodiment of a sterilization system.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of a sterilization system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion provides many example embodiments of theinventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a singlecombination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter isconsidered to include all possible combinations of the disclosedelements. Thus if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and asecond embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subjectmatter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A,B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.

FIG. 1 shows a sterilization system 100 comprising a drum 101 and an RFgenerator 102. A substance 103 is placed inside the internal chamber ofdrum 101. Substance 103 can be any material that a user desires tosterilize. In some embodiments, substance 103 is a food material (e.g.,food powder). The outer wall of drum 101 serves as an external RFelectrode 104. Inside drum 101 is a internal RF electrode 105. As drum101 rotates in direction 110, RF generator 102, electrode 104, andelectrode 105 operate to produce RF plasma 106 inside the chamber ofdrum 101. RF plasma 106 can be an ionized gas such as air (e.g., O2,CO2, N2, Ar). RF plasma 106 contains an active species that is effectiveto kill microbes in substance. (Further discussion of plasmasterilization processes is found in the background section of U.S. Pat.No. 4,756,882, which is incorporated herein by reference.)

In some embodiments, RF generator 102 operates at or near 13.56 MHz,with power in the range of 0.1 to 10 kW.

Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth hereinshould be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints andopen-ended ranges should be interpreted to include only commerciallypractical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered asinclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates thecontrary.

FIG. 2 shows system 100 in relation to a magnetic field 121, whichproduces a plasma rotation direction 120. The fundamental principles ofthe influence of magnetic field 121 will now be explained.

A Lorentz force is the force on a point charge due to electromagneticfields. It is given by the following equation in terms of the electricand magnetic fields:

F=q[E+(v×B)]

Where, F is the force, E is the electric field , B is the magnetic field(e.g., magnetic field 121), q is the electric charge of the particle, vis the instantaneous velocity of the particle, × is the vector crossproduct. A positively charged particle in plasma will be accelerated inthe same linear orientation as the E field, but will curveperpendicularly to both the instantaneous velocity vector v and the Bfield according to the right-hand rule.

RF plasma 106 will have a rotation direction opposite to rotation 110 ofdrum 101. As a result, the contact time between RF plasma 106 andsubstance 103 is much higher and the sterilizing effect is much higher.In addition, interactions between RF plasma 106 and substance 103 aremore efficient.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment, sterilization system 300, in which aninduction plasma is used as a pre-ionizer for the main RF plasma byusing an external inductive coil 350. In this scenario, the RF plasma306 inside the internal chamber of reactor 301 is more uniform. Internalelectrode 305 is connected only to DC power supply 335 in order togenerate radial current and rotate the plasma in direction 320 by usingLorentz force produced from magnetic field 321.

FIG. 4 shows yet another alternative embodiment, sterilization system400, which has an RF plasma 406 produced by RF generator 402. Unlikeprevious embodiments, reactor 401 has a porous wall (i.e., externalelectrode 404 is porous). The porous wall can be made of porousstainless steel or some other porous conductive material. The plasma gasis supplied to reactor 401 through the porous wall, which keeps powder403 (e.g., the substance to be sterilized) from directly contacting thereactor's wall. RF plasma 406 will be much more uniform (especially athigher pressure) than when plasma gas is supplied from an end of thereactor.

In addition to the inventive concepts described above, plasmasterilization processes can utilize plasma to generate and preciselycontrol shock waves. For example, the plasma generating frequency (basicfrequency) could be 13.56 MHz, but modulated in order to produce theshock /acoustic waves. In this scenario, the plasma is just a “body”,which could oscillate at any frequency and power. Theacoustic/ultrasound is transmitted through a medium via pressure wavesby inducing vibrational motion of the molecules, which alternatelycompress and stretch the molecular structure of the medium due to atime-varying pressure.

As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term“coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which twoelements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirectcoupling (in which at least one additional element is located betweenthe two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with”are used synonymously.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the descriptionherein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise.

The recitation of ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve asa shorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, eachindividual value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g. “such as”) provided with respectto certain embodiments herein is intended merely to better illuminatethe invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of theinvention otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should beconstrued as indicating any non-claimed element essential to thepractice of the invention.

Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the inventiondisclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each groupmember can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combinationwith other members of the group or other elements found herein. One ormore members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group forreasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion ordeletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the groupas modified thus fulfilling the written description of all Markushgroups used in the appended claims.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many moremodifications besides those already described are possible withoutdeparting from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subjectmatter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of theappended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification andthe claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possiblemanner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises”and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements,components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that thereferenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized,or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are notexpressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at leastone of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . andN, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from thegroup, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of sterilizing a substance, comprising:placing the substance in a rotating chamber; irradiating the substancewith a RF plasma; applying a force not caused by rotation of therotating chamber to increase contact of the substance with the RFplasma.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the force comprises a magneticfield that causes the RF plasma to rotate in a direction opposite tothat of the chamber.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the forcecomprises a magnetic field axially aligned with the chamber.
 4. Themethod of claim 3 wherein a wall of the chamber is used as an electrodefor producing the external field.
 5. The method of claim 3 wherein anaxle of the chamber is used as an electrode for producing the externalfield.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying apre-ionizer to the RF plasma.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising using an induction plasma to pre-ionize the RF plasma.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising using gas penetration of a wall ofthe chamber to reduce contact of the substance with the wall.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising modulating a basic frequency of theRF plasma to impart acoustic shock waves to the substance.
 10. Anapparatus for sterilizing a substance, comprising: a rotating chamber; asource of plasma disposed to irradiate the substance within the chamber;an RF generator that applies a radio frequency to the plasma; and acircuitry that produces a magnetic field that causes the RF plasma torotate in a direction opposite to that of the chamber.
 11. The apparatusof claim 10, further comprising a first electrode at a wall of thechamber, and a second electrode inside the chamber.
 12. An apparatus forsterilizing a substance, comprising: a rotating chamber; a source of RFplasma disposed to irradiate the substance within the chamber; and aninduction plasma disposed to pre-ionize the RF plasma.
 13. An apparatusfor sterilizing a substance, comprising: a rotating chamber; a source ofRF plasma disposed to irradiate the substance within the chamber; andwherein the chamber has a gas permeable wall.
 14. An apparatus forsterilizing a substance, comprising: a rotating chamber; a source ofplasma disposed to irradiate the substance within the chamber; an RFgenerator that applies a radio frequency to the plasma; and a circuitrythat modulates a basic frequency of the RF plasma to impart acousticshock waves to the substance.